Not Born in the USA

There are 44.5 million people living in the United States today that were born outside the country.

That is 13.7% of the population. That is the highest it has been in over a century.

Over a quarter of the total number of immigrants living in the country were born in Mexico. An amount of people equal to almost 10% of the population of Mexico was born there but is now living in the United States.

The foreign-born population in the United States is not distributed equally. For example, almost 40% of the population of New York City is foreign born. There are 3.3 million foreign born immigrants living in New York City alone. That number by itself would make it the third largest city in the United States.

500,000 of the immigrants in New York City were born in just one country---the Dominican Republic. There are 140,000 people who were born in Guyana living in New York City. Guyana only has a population of 700,000 in total. Is there anyone in Guyana who does not have a relative living in New York City?

This map shows the percentage of foreign-born immigrants living in each state according to the U.S Census Bureau's most recent Community Survey.

It ranges from 27% of the population being foreign-born in California to 1.6% in West Virginia.

Other states with high percentages of foreign-born immigrants are New York (22.9%), New Jersey (22.8%), Florida (20.9%), Nevada (19.9%), Hawaii (18.6%) Texas (17.1%), Massachusetts (16.9%) and Maryland 15.3%.

If you want to know why Democrats do not want to do anything to reform our immigration laws you do not have to look any further than this map.

If you look at the 2016 Presidential election results, 194 out of Hillary Clinton's 232 electoral votes came from states where foreign-born immigrants make up more than 10% of the population.

On the other hand, Trump won only four states where immigrants make up more than 10% of the population---Texas, Florida, Arizona and Georgia.

It is probably not a surprise that Mexicans make up the largest immigrant group in 32 of the 50 states according to the Census data.

A few of the states where Mexicans are not the largest immigrant group--New York (Dominican Republic), New Jersey (India). Florida (Cuba),  Hawaii (Philippines), Massachusetts (China), Maryland (El Salvador), Virginia (El Salvador).

However, where is the largest foreign-born population from in each state if you exclude those from Mexico?

These might surprise you.

Indians are the second largest immigrant group in the USA.  They are the largest in New Jersey, Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They are second in 17 other states. Ironically, many of these states are where there were large American Indian populations 300 years ago.

Ethiopians in South Dakota? Guatemalans in Alabama and Nebraska? Germans in New Mexico? El Salvadorans in Arkansas? Filipinos in Wyoming? Immigration patterns are much different than they used to be.

All of this information raises the question again. Yes, we are a nation of immigrants.  However, at what point can we no longer intelligently assimilate these masses of people into our country and our unique culutre without damaging what prior immigrants created?